Daddy Date/Bro Time/Quality Time

At Shoreline we have been talking about what it means to be Enjoying God. Last week Brian talked about depending upon God every moment for everything - letting Him in your life every moment. We do this by talking to Him throughout our day and realizing that even our next breath is a gift from God.

I spend six hours a day, four days a week with Beth. Throughout the day we laugh as one of us is inescapably in the clutches of Mrs. De La Paz Palacios (quite a name, huh?), mourn when one of the clients goes missing and share the daily client "quotables". We talk to each other through the day. Most of the time it isn't any deep conversation, just enjoying our friendship and the people God has put around us. It isn't until we are driving somewhere or just kicking it at one of our apartments that we have deep, conversations. This is living life together. So it only makes sence to live life with God like this. The only difference is He is ALWAYS with us.

Like a father with his children, God is living life with us and we are able to make Daddy dates (or for the guys, Bro time) with Him for those deep conversations and quality time.

Good Master

"In every believer's heart there is a constant struggle between the old nature and the new. The old nature is very active and loses no opportunity of plying all the weapons of it's deadly armory against new born grace. While on the other hand, the new nature is ever on the watch to resist and destroy it's enemy. Grace within us will employ prayer and faith and hope and love to cast out the evil. It takes unto it the whole armor of God and wrestles earnestly. These two opposing natures will never cease to struggle so long as we are in this world. The battle of Christian with Apollyon lasted three hours; but the battle with Christian and himself lasted all the way from the wicked gate and the river Jordan.

"The enemy is so securely entrenched within us that he can never be driven out while we are in this body. That although we are closely beset, and often in sore conflict, we have an almighty helper, even Jesus the captain of our salvation who is ever with us and who assures us that we shall eventually come off more that conquerors through Him. With such assistance the new born nature is more than a match for its foes.

"Are you fighting with the adversity today? Are Satin, the world and the flesh all against you? Be not discouraged or dismayed. Fight on for God Himself is with you. Jehovah-Nissi is your banner and Jehovah-Rophe is the healer of your wounds. Fear not, you shall overcome for who can defeat Omnipotence? Fight on looking unto Jesus and though long and stern be the conflict, sweet will be the victory and glorious the promised reward. From strength to strength go on, wrestle and fight and pray. Tread all the powers of darkness down and win the well fought day.

Charles H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening, June 2nd.

Once More: Because He Loves Us.

This is a re posting from back in March, the day before i was diagnoses with PTSD. So much has been running through my mind and heart since then and at the core of everything is either reassurance of the Gospel or the mortification that in some ways the Gospel is still head knowledge.

Christ died for ALL our sins and the sins of others because He loved us. Selah

Thursday evening i had a bit of a headache and by 2am i was in monumental pain. My roommate called Mere for me but while we waited for her to come, the pain escalated so we called an ambulance. The pain was insane. As i awaited to either pass out or have my head explode, i thought of First Peter 1:8 where Peter describes the joy we have in Him. "[You] believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible." To me, this pain was the equal but opposite feeling; it was like nothing i had ever felt before and at one point i thought i was going to die. I will leave out the crazy details but on the way to the ER, as i was begging God to get me through, i thought of Christ. While my proclivity is to run from pain, Christ, "for the joy that was set before him endured the cross," (Heb 12:2). He voluntarily went to the cross knowing that the pain would be egregiously more pain than anyone can ever experience and He went quietly.

⁷He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He did not open His mouth;
Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,
And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
So He did not open His mouth.
Isaiah 53:7

Now, if i had the power to at least separate my consciousness of the pain, i would. Christ could have stopped His punishment at anytime. With one thought, legions of angels could have come to His rescue. Yet Jesus did not. That night i had a bit better idea of what Jesus endured for us.
He would bear the pain as they beat and mocked Him. His eye swollen, lip bleeding and hair ripped from His face.
He would bear the pain as He was flogged. He was whipped with a flagrum that contained lead balls that would tenderize the skin and hooks that tore out chunks of flesh bruising the lungs and heart.
He would bear the pain as they pressed thorns into His head. A crown of thorns that were five to seven inches long, pressed in to His head.
He would bear the pain as He carried His cross. Two wooden beams that weighed upwards of 100 lbs rested on His shoulder as the longer end drug on the ground.
He would bear the pain as He was nailed to the cross. Nails equivalent to railroad spikes driven into the most sensitive nerve centers of the body - the hands and feet.
He would bear the pain as He was lifted up. The people He came to save were mocking, jeering and making fun of Him.
He would bear the pain of speaking one last sermon. He spoke, "Father forgive them." To John He assigns the care of His mother and Jesus forgives and saves the man suffering justly next to Him.
He would bear the pain as the eternal unbroken intimacy of God the Father and God the Son is temporarily severed. This was far worse than any physical and/or psychological suffering that Jesus endured. Jesus took upon Himself my sin, your sin, our sin and experienced physical and spiritual death and it was finished.

He bore all this pain. Why?

Because He loves us.

Dusk til Dawn

A mosaic of peach and pink scatter amongst the smog,
the brilliant ball of fire can no longer be seen,
it's rays leave a lambent glow,
that sparkles but for a moment.
Burning chemicals slowly mute to black.
The robin's aria has died away,
as the crickets interpose just in time for the third act.
The lights are out.
The curtain that rose hours ago,
has yet to fall.
Suspense escalates.
What is on the bill?
Will there be a comedy?
A tragedy?
A love story...
or will there again be horror?
I await the flood of misty light,
for my dreams to take stage,
sweeping me far away from here...

Some one has missed their cue.
There is no fade in,
no whimsical characters are born,
no more music softens my breath.
The air is dead... choking... silent....

Bored, my thoughts start spinning,
the hurricane of attention deficit is merciless.
The sun will not rise for hours,
what seems like days,
yet i remain knowing it will come.
I am the watchman on the last watch of the night,
as most nights.
I eagerly await the dawn,
confident of it's arrival.
Nearsighted, i loiter til daybreak,
thinking this will save me.
My light grasp has allowed The
by nature Pure Blood
trickle through my fingers.
I let it slip down the back of my hand,
slither beyond my wrist,
and cascade from my elbow.

My feeble mind has yet again forgotten,
a Love more faithful than the morning.

Where is the Love pt 5

If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
1 Corinthians 13:3

Jesus tells us that love is the key to life. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself" - Matthew 22:37-38 (NIV).

The Bible tells us that God is love. He loved us so much that He sent His beloved son to die for us so we can have a relationship with Him.

Giving is important. Sacrifice is significant. But loving God and others needs to be the focus of our lives. And when we truly grasp this concept - everything else falls into place.

Possessive Pronoun Savior-> Humble Servant

With so much spiritual trial protruding into my life from so many different angles, i have been trying to focus solely on loving God and loving people (which is really where my focus should be ALL the time). I have failed miserably time and time again. Praise God that because of the Gospel i am free to make the mistake, repent, be forgiven, learn and move forward. Although lately, it seems i am learning the same lesson over and over again, each time God revealing another layer of the lesson.

As a new believer there have definitely been times when i wasn't aware of my sin. I knew i was a sinner but didn't see my sin. Now i know to get on my knees and pray when i seem sinless to myself or when i feel i have been sinned against with no fault of my own. Scott just recently blogged about some thoughts on knowing yourself from "one of the most insightful of Puritan theologians", John Owen.

• "The man that understands the evil of his own heart, how vile it is, is the only useful, fruitful, and solid believing and obedient person. Others are fit only to delude themselves, to disquiet families, churches, and all relations whatever." (Works of John Owens, vol. 6)

Once we have a better understanding of who we are and who God is, we begin our own private journey to Troas. We are prideful people so the path to humility is a rugged, painful tearing from our flesh. Yet this pain is worth it as you compare it to what is to be gained in Christ. It is then that you have a clearer view of from what you have been saved. We have all been saved from the same depravity, but how much of that depravity are you aware of? As Luke says, "He who has been forgiven little loves little" (Luke 7:47).

• If you have little experience of or confidence in the life changing power of God's grace, you will likely be ungracious in your demands of others. A critical spirit and negative expectations will dominate your relationships. Forgiveness and the desire to restore and build up others will be far from your mind. In general you will have little patience with the weaknesses of others, especially those close to you. When tensions arise, you will leap to your own defense while trying to pin the blame on others. You will tend to keep a safe distance from Christians whose lives reflect true love and holiness, lest they uncover your inner unworthiness. You might even go on the attack and find fault in them to soothe your conscience. This negative spirit generates further tensions and distrust, so as to invite others to strike back. In such an atmosphere, trusting and joyful relationships, creativity, and loving ministry cannot flourish (Forgive! As the LORD Forgave You, Patrick H. Morison pg 5).

This is something difficult for anyone to examine once accepting the Gospel. You are reluctant to admit that you doubt God's grace. Perhaps even more so for the career Christian and/or when those in your community see you as a 'holy' person strong in faith. It takes a humble and honest heart before God. Otherwise you will be subject to your pride. So examine your heart, seriously. Are you really certain Christ died for you? Could these observations by J.C. Ryle pertain to you?

• They never come to a point of actually laying hold on Christ by faith, and becoming one with Christ by faith, and becoming one with Christ and Christ in them. They can say, He is a Savior, but not “my Savior” - a Redeemer but not, “my Redeemer” - a Priest, but not, “my Priest” - an Advocate, but not “my Advocate”: and so they live and die unforgiven! No wonder that Martin Luther said, “Many are lost because they cannot use possessive pronouns” (Ryle, Practical Religion, pg. 7).

With every finger we loosen on our pride, we take that much more hold to our Savior. This begins with loving God and loving others more than we love ourselves, thus becoming humble servants to OUR great and glorious God - The Father that loves us.

Where is the Love pt 4

As Christians, we are called to pursue to be like Christ. So when an opportunity comes to help a brother or sister in Christ, do you drop everything and go? Or do you wait until it is convenient for you (which may possibly be too late)?
As Christians we are called to forsake worldliness. When it comes between helping an eternal soul and keeping your daily routine; which will you choose?
When the Son of Man comes in His Glory, will you be a sheep or a goat?


Matthew 25:31-46

³¹"But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.

³²"All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats;

³³and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.

³⁴"Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

³⁵'For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in;

³⁶naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.'

³⁷"Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink?

³⁸'And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You?

³⁹'When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?'

⁴⁰"The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.'

⁴¹"Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;

⁴²for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink;

⁴³I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.'

⁴⁴"Then they themselves also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?'

⁴⁵"Then He will answer them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.'

⁴⁶"These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

James 1:27
Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.